


you're my guys, and this is our spam

by localspacelesbian



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, M/M, theatre dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: a few scenes that take place between episodes 4 & 5 (and a little bit during 5) because we stan friendship and seblos in this household.
Relationships: Big Red & Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 9
Kudos: 59





	you're my guys, and this is our spam

_“Sharpay’s kind of cute, too.”_

_“Yeah, so’s a mountain lion. But you don’t pet it.”_

Ricky looked up from his script at Miss Jenn and Carlos. “Wait. I have a question.” He could practically feel EJ rolling his eyes next to him.

“What’s your question, Ricky?” Miss Jenn asked.

Suddenly, he felt kind of stupid. It wasn’t really an important question, but it was one of those questions that wouldn’t leave his head until he asked it. “So, Troy calls Sharpay cute, so I’m calling Seb cute?”

Carlos spoke before Miss Jenn got a chance to. “Yes, because he is. What’s the problem here? I’m sure even you can wrap your hetero mind around that fact long enough to say your line.”

Ricky shook his head, but didn’t bother to correct Carlos about the ‘hetero’ part. “No, sorry. It’s not a problem. It’s just, if Sharpay’s a guy in our version, does that mean Troy’s bi now?”

“Troy’s always been bi,” Carlos answered.

“Wait, really?” Ricky didn’t remember that from the movie. Granted, he hadn’t actually seen it all the way through. But he would have heard that, right?

“Yeah, the whole movie’s a metaphor for bisexuality. You didn’t get that?” Nini asked with a smile that made Ricky unsure if she was messing with him or not.

Miss Jenn cleared her throat. “Was that all, Ricky?”

He nodded. “Uh yeah. Sorry.”

“Ok then, let’s take this scene from the top.”

They moved back into position for the start of the scene. _“So dude, you know that school musical thing, is it true you get extra credit just for auditioning?”_

When they finished the scene, Ricky went over to wear his backpack was sitting on the counter to get a drink of water. Nini came over and hopped up on the counter next to him. “I can’t believe Carlos called you straight.”

Ricky chuckled and looked up at her. “Yeah, if only he knew that just last night I was literally wearing a pride shirt.”

“Well, to be fair, that was my mom’s. And you didn’t exactly keep it on for very long.”

Ricky looked down. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought that up. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I get it. I was just worried about you when you disappeared.”

He shook his head. “I made things weird. And I probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

“Hey, it’s fine. We’re still friends. I’m always going to be there for you. And so are my moms. I think they miss you, actually.”

He looked up at her. “Really?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

“Troy! Chad! Could you two go over your lines for your next scene together before we block it?” Miss Jenn called over to him.

Ricky looked at Nini. “Duty calls.”

“Good luck.”

He grabbed his script and followed EJ into the other room. They faced each other, and EJ said the first line. “ _What spell has this elevated-IQ temptress girl cast that makes you suddenly want to be in a musical?_ ”

Suddenly, the door opened and Big Red and Carlos walked in. Ricky gave them a confused look, and Carlos said, “Miss Jenn sent us in here to make sure you two don’t kill each other.” Which was fair, considering EJ’s upper lip still showed evidence of the last time they had tried to work on a scene together. At least neither of them had a basketball this time.

Ricky just nodded, and tried to get back to the scene. _“Look, I just did it. Who cares?”_

_“Who cares? How about your most loyal best friend?”_

Carlos interrupted them. “Yeah, getting real ‘best friend’ vibes from you two,” he said sarcastically.

EJ rolled his eyes. “What do you want from us, Carlos?”

Carlos came up to them. “Look, I know you two hate each other because of your weird hetero drama or whatever-”

“We like the same girl, Carlos. It’s not that complicated,” Ricky interrupted.

Carlos shook his head and put his hands up. “Whatever. Don’t care. You are actors. So _act_ like you’re friends.”

“And how do we do that?” Ricky asked. “In case you forgot, I’m kind of new at this.”

“Don’t worry. No one forgot,” EJ said. Ricky just gave him a look before turning back to Carlos.

Carlos sighed. “Just don’t see each other as EJ and Ricky. See each other as Chad and Troy. Who are best friends.” He looked at Big Red for backup.

Big Red came up to them. “Yeah, remember the day before the audition when you didn’t even know the plot of _High School Musical_ , and I told you that it’s about the character Troy having to choose between being true to his best friend Chad or following his heart with Gabriella?” Ricky nodded, but Carlos and EJ both looked a little confused. “Well, just pretend like EJ is your best friend. You two have known each other your entire lives, and now you want to try something new, and you want him to support you, but he’s not. Because he’s scared. That maybe things are different now. That spending time with this musical or with this girl will take away from their time together… Playing basketball. That maybe Troy is a different person now. But they’re still best friends. And they’d still do anything for each other.”

Everyone looked at Big Red with varying degrees of surprise. That definitely sounded too personal to be just about Chad and Troy. But Ricky didn’t want to think about that right now. So he did what he did best; he deflected. “I thought you didn’t like _High School Musical_ , dude?”

“Shut up.” Big Red looked away, his face a little pink.

Carlos cleared his throat. “Ok, let’s run the scene from the top.”

Ricky and EJ nodded and looked back at their scripts to start the scene again, with Carlos reading the librarian’s lines. Ricky didn’t have a ton of lines; it was mostly Chad’s whole speech about Troy ending up in his mom’s refrigerator. Or something like that. He kept thinking about what Big Red had said. Was that really how he felt about the whole Nini/ _High School Musical_ thing? Carlos made them go over the scene over and over again until Natalie came in to tell them that Miss Jenn wanted them back in the other room.

After they finished the scene for the last time, Carlos looked at EJ and Ricky with a smile on his face. “That was better. I almost believe that you two can tolerate each other now.” EJ rolled his eyes and walked back into the other room, and Carlos quickly followed him.

Big Red was about to follow them as well, but Ricky stopped him. “Hey, Big Red.”

“Yeah?” Red turned back to him, and Ricky realized he didn’t actually know what he wanted to say.

“Um. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not pulling a Chad and trying to stop me from doing the musical, I guess. And for doing it with me.”

Red smiled at him. “Well, it surprisingly hasn’t been that bad. I’m still 80% sure that it’s a cult, and I don’t know what they’re saying half the time, but,” he shrugged, “it could be worse.”

Ricky laughed, and the two of them walked into the other room together.

* * *

Big Red and the other tech people were in the theatre working on sets. It was actually kind of nice. Peaceful almost. At least compared to most of his other experiences so far with the theatre kids. Someone was playing music quietly, but it wasn’t show tunes, and no one was singing along or dancing. There was some conversation going on, but mostly everyone was just focused on what they were doing. He was painting a backdrop for the ski lodge. He wasn’t exactly an artist, but he had been in art club for a year in middle school, and it was kind of fun. It helped that everything was already drawn on though, so it was basically like a bigger version of a coloring book. At least, that’s how he thought of it.

The door opened, and a few of the dancers walked in. He waved at them. “What are you guys doing here?”

Stef shrugged. “They’re working on some Troy and Gabriella scenes, and we got bored, so Miss Jenn told us to come help you guys out.”

“What? You didn’t want to sit there and listen to Ricky and Nini’s drama for an hour?” he joked. Because maybe after almost five years of hearing Ricky talk about how much he like Nini, he was more tired of it than he let on. Not that he’d ever tell Ricky that. But he thought he’d earned the right to be a little salty.

Rico snorted. “It’s even worse than having to listen to Carlos and Seb’s endless flirting every time we try to work on our choreography.” Big Red laughed.

“So, what can we do to help?” Kaden asked.

Red gestured toward the set pieces he and the rest of the crew were working on. “Grab a paintbrush, I guess.”

Kaden picked up a paintbrush and started to help Big Red with the backdrop he was working on while the other dancers dispersed to help the other crew members. They painted in silence for a minute before Kaden asked, “So, what is the whole drama with Ricky and Nini, anyway?”

Big Red sighed. “Honestly, it goes all the way back to seventh grade. Or maybe kindergarten, depending on how you look at it.”

“Seriously?”

Red shrugged. “Kind of. I guess the _drama_ drama didn’t really start until this summer, but if you want the whole story, yeah.”

Kaden shrugged. “Well, we’ve got time.”

So Big Red told him the whole, long story. How they'd all met in kindergarten. How Ricky had started liking Nini in seventh grade, and they'd started dating at the beginning of their sophomore year. How they'd broken up over the summer after Nini had written him that song. How Nini had met EJ at camp. How Ricky was so determined to win her back. And maybe he'd backed off a little bit lately, but Big Red was sure that they'd get back together eventually. (He was less sure if that was actually a good thing.) He noticed that some of the others were listening, but no one interrupted him, which was kind of nice. They all continued to paint as he talked.

When he was done, Kaden said, “Wow. Straight people are kind of really annoying.”

Big Red snorted, but didn’t bother to correct him because he didn’t know if Nini was out, and he knew Ricky wasn’t. “Yeah, they are.” He froze when he said that because he wasn’t out either. Did that count as coming out? No one said anything, so he decided to just continue as if nothing had happened. They went back to painting, and Kaden changed the subject to something else. Big Red decided that maybe the theatre dorks weren’t so bad.

After a while, Carlos came into the theatre to get everyone back into the practice room.

“ _Everyone_ everyone?” Big Red asked because he had learned that ‘everyone’ didn’t always include tech people.

“Just the dancers,” Carlos clarified.

He nodded, and Kaden handed him his paintbrush before getting up to leave with the others. “See you later, Big Red.”

* * *

_I believe in dreaming_

_And shooting for the stars_.

_Baby to be number one_

_You got to raise the bar._

Kourtney sang quietly as she reorganized the makeup in the dressing room. Because apparently all it took to get that song stuck in her head was walking past the room where Rico and Seb were practicing the choreography. But who could blame her? The song was, well, a bop. And after the week she’d had of Tonya Freeman shooting down every one of her costume ideas, it was nice to just be by herself, with nothing but the muffled sounds of Bop to the Top coming from the rehearsal room and a room full of makeup and clothes that were probably older than she was to keep her company.

“You have a great voice.” Kourtney almost dropped the makeup brushes she was holding as she looked up at the doorway to see Stef standing there looking a bit guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s fine. I’ve just had this song stuck in my head all week.”

Stef chuckled. “I think we all have. But seriously, you have a great voice. Why aren’t you onstage?”

Kourtney smiled and shrugged. “Thanks, but I prefer being backstage, making the rest of you all look good.”

“Well, you do a great job of that, too.”

“Thanks.” She shook her head. “Sorry, did you need something?”

“Oh right, yeah, I was just wondering how the costumes are coming along? I know that the ensemble’s probably not your first priority, but…”

“We don’t have much yet, even for the leads, but the basketball jerseys did come in yesterday, and I haven’t actually looked at them yet. Do you want to see them?”

“Sure.”

Kourtney walked over to a box that was sitting on a chair in the corner, and Stef followed her. Kourtney opened the box and pulled out the jersey on top. It was number eight, Chad Danforth.

“Wow, these are like real basketball jerseys.”

Kourtney nodded. “Yep. Apparently, Seb has a cousin who plays basketball, and he got us his jersey connection. He even managed to get us a discount.”

Stef nodded. “Nice. So, one of these is mine?”

Kourtney nodded. “Yep.” They dug through the box until they found the one with her last name on it. Kourtney held it up.

Stef reached out and took it from her. “I’m number one?”

Kourtney shrugged. “Apparently. Did we get the right size?”

Stef held it up to her torso. “I think so.”

“Good.” That was one of the few things Tonya had actually let Kourtney be in charge of, so she really hoped she hadn’t messed it up. She took the jersey back and put it back in the box.

Stef nodded and gestured toward the door with her thumb. “I should probably get back out there and let you get back to what you were doing, but uh thanks.”

Kourtney nodded. “Yeah, no problem. See you later, Stef.”

She left and Kourtney went back over to the makeup counter to continue cleaning (and singing, though a little bit louder this time), in a much better mood than she had been in before. It was kind of amazing how much one compliment and a nice conversation with a pretty girl could make her day after a shitty week of being shot down by a bitchy senior over and over again. 

_Kicking and a scratching_

_Grinding out my best_

_Anything it takes to climb_

_The ladder of success_

* * *

Seb and Rico were working on the choreography for Bop to the Top with Carlos directing them. They both knew all the steps. They had been practicing all week. But for some reason, they kept messing up. Rico wasn’t leading, and Seb couldn’t quite make himself trust him yet, especially with the move where he spun him around on the ground. He didn’t know how they’d manage the choreography for Stick to the Status Quo if they couldn’t do this.

Carlos stopped the music. “Ok, that was better than the last time.” But the way he said it made it clear that it still wasn’t as good as it should be by now.

Seb went to get a drink of water while Rico asked Carlos to help him with a part that he kept messing up. Seb watched the two of them dance around the room. They were really good. He didn’t understand why he and Rico couldn’t quite get it when they were dancing together.

After they finished dancing, Carlos said, “Ok, that was better. You still need to actually lead though.”

Rico took a drink from his water bottle and nodded. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok. You’ll get it.” Carlos turned to Seb and held out his hand. “Here, I’ll show you.”

But then the door opened and Ashlyn poked her head in. “Miss Jenn wants you guys back in here for the next scene.”

Carlos sighed. “Right now?”

Ashlyn nodded. “Yep. We need Seb on the piano.”

“Can’t you do it?”

“I’m the one singing.”

“What about Nini?”

“She’s busy.”

“So are-”

Seb interrupted Carlos. “It’s fine, Carlos. We can practice later.” Ashlyn nodded and went back in the room. “Actually, could we maybe meet tomorrow morning before school? So you could help me with the choreography?”

“Just the two of us?”

Seb nodded. “Yeah, I’ll even bring you coffee.”

Carlos smiled. “That sounds good.” He grabbed his binder and walked through the door Ashlyn had just disappeared through.

Rico turned to Seb with a smug look on his face. “What, you didn’t think I needed the extra practice?”

“Well, you could come too, if you want.” _But please say no_.

Rico shook his head and laughed. “Nope. Clearly, you two want to be alone together.”

“I don’t know what you’re implying, Rico.” Except, maybe he did.

Rico sighed. “Come on. You two have been dancing around each other for weeks now.”

“He’s the choreographer.” Seb finished packing up his things.

“You know I didn’t mean that literally.” Seb started to walk away. “How much you wanna bet he asks you to homecoming?”

He froze and turned back to face Rico. “Homecoming’s tomorrow. If he was going to ask me, he would have already.”

Rico just shrugged, grabbed his things, and walked passed Seb into the room. Seb had no choice but to follow.

Seb sat at the piano and played Wondering. Honestly, as much as he was disappointed to miss out on dancing with Carlos more, he loved hearing Ashlyn sing, so maybe it was worth it. It was definitely better than sitting there in between whatever had been going on between EJ and Nini last week anyway.

When the song was over, while Miss Jenn was giving Ashlyn notes, Seb checked his phone and saw a text from Rico.

Rico: if Carlos asks you to homecoming, you owe me a coffee

Seb: and when he doesn’t?

Rico: IF he doesn’t, i guess i’ll buy you a coffee

Seb: i don’t drink coffee

Seb: and what if i ask him?

Rico: if you actually manage to ask Carlos to homecoming, i’ll buy you dinner

He looked up when he heard Miss Jenn clear her throat loudly. He blushed when he realized that she and almost everybody else were staring at him. She looked at him pointedly. “We’re ready to start the song again.”

He nodded. “Who were you texting?” Carlos asked.

“Um.” He glanced over at Rico. “My brother.” That was kind of true.

“Well, unless it’s a family emergency, there are no phones in rehearsal,” Miss Jenn said. “And that goes for you too, Rico,” she added without even looking at him. She gestured toward Seb. “Can we start now?” Seb nodded and started playing the song again.

The next day at lunch, Seb walked up to Rico’s table and set a coffee cup in front of him. Rico looked up at him with a smile. “Oh my god, he actually did it?”

Seb grinned and nodded excitedly. It took everything in him not to squeal and jump up and down.

Rico pulled him into the seat next to him. “Ok, tell us everything.”

Seb took a deep breath and then started talking very quickly. “Ok, so we were working on the choreography this morning, and I was like ‘I’m never going to get this,’ and he was like ‘you just need to practice more,’ and I was like ‘I practice every night in my barn. What I need is to practice with a partner who actually knows how to lead.’”

“Hey!” Rico hit him lightly on the arm, and the others at the table laughed.

Seb shrugged. “You wanted to hear the story.” Rico sighed and gestured for him to continue. “Ok, so then, he was like ‘well, how about tonight?’ and I was like ‘tonight?’ and he was like ‘yeah, homecoming,’ and internally I was screaming, but out loud I was like ‘you mean dancing in front of all the non-theatre kids?’ because I suddenly realized that that’s going to happen, and I’m still kind of freaking out about it, but he was just like ‘as far as I know, that’s how homecoming works,’ and I was still freaking out, but like, it’s Carlos, so it’s worth it, and then, and _then_ I was like ‘text me a pic of what you’re wearing,’ and I left before I could spontaneously combust, and I know it’s like three hours later, but I’m still freaking out because oh my god I’m actually going to homecoming with Carlos Rodriguez!”

“Damn Seb, I didn’t know you could be so smooth.”

“Wait, what part of that was smooth? Did you miss the part where I almost spontaneously combusted?”

Rico laughed. “The part where you told him to text you a pic of what he’s wearing.”

“Oh. Was that smooth? Is that how you flirt? I’ve never actually done it before.”

Stef leaned over and squeezed his hand. “You’re doing great.” Seb smiled at her. “Besides, the two of you have been flirting pretty much nonstop for the past two months. I think you’re fine.”

Seb laughed and looked down. It was nice to have people to talk to about this kind of stuff.

* * *

Miss Jenn was starting to pack up her things to leave for the day. There wasn’t rehearsal that evening because of homecoming, and she was looking forward to having a ‘girls night’ with Nini and Kourtney, something she had never been invited to participate in when she was their age. She had a plan and a backup plan and an old coupon that she was praying would still work. The door to her office opened, and Seb walked in, looking more than a little panicked.

“Seb, honey, are you ok?” She stood up and walked over to him.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Uh… Carlos asked me to homecoming?”

She led him over to the couch. “What’s the problem? You like him, don’t you?” She was pretty sure she had picked up on that from the first rehearsal.

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s just, I’ve never actually been to a dance before. And, you know, Carlos is literally the best dancer ever, and I don’t want to mess up. And also, well, I don’t usually spend a lot of time around non-theatre kids, so I’m not sure how they’ll react to us dancing together. And-”

“Seb, look at me.” He did. “Breathe.” The two of them took a deep breath together. She thought for a second before deciding how exactly to go about comforting him. “Do you know why I cast you as Sharpay?” He shook his head and looked confused. “The second I saw you on that stage, I thought to myself, ‘that is Sharpay Evans,’ and Carlos immediately agreed with me of course.” Seb smiled slightly. “When you’re up there on the stage, singing your heart out, it’s like you have this energy, this confidence, this _fierceness_ . You just embody Sharpay perfectly. I honestly don’t know how you do it, but it’s incredible. You just need to learn how to channel that energy, that _confidence_ into your everyday life. Sharpay would dance with whomever she wanted to and wouldn’t care what anyone else thought. Because she knows that she’s the best. And so are you.”

Seb smiled. “Thank you, Miss Jenn.” He hugged her, and she was slightly startled at first, but she didn’t hesitate to hug him back.

He got up and walked over to the door. Just before he opened it, she said, “Have fun tonight, Seb. I’ll see you on Monday. Don’t forget. It’s picture day!”

He smiled and nodded, before walking out the door.

Not even a minute later, the door opened again, and Carlos walked in, wearing a similarly panicked expression. She smiled to herself as she gestured for him to sit next to her on the couch. A teacher’s work is never done.


End file.
